Mind you – I am not a weatherman, but I have played a weatherman, so I am certainly a credible witness to this weather event.  Prior to the storm’s arrival, the weather people were reporting that NYC would receive anywhere between 0 inches and 3 feet of snow.  So really, how accurate do I need to be?

I always thought the definition of a blizzard was either pure shit weather or a fabulous treat from DQ.  No.  It turns out that a blizzard is a storm with a large amount of snow with three characteristics:  winds that exceed 35 mph, a duration of at least 3 hours, and visibility less than ¼ mile.  In other words, pure shit weather.

One for the books, no doubt.  For us, this blizzard is reminiscent of the Blizzard of ’78, where the Boston area and eastern New England was literally wiped out with huge amounts of snow and winds.  This blizzard arrived on a Saturday so there was not the volume of commuter traffic that got caught in 1978.   Clearly areas around Boston and the Cape and Islands received the brunt of this storm, with power outages, flooding and other mayhem.  CNN reported Stoughton, MA (south of us) received over 30 inches of snow, and Barnstable County (Cape Cod) had gusts over 80 mph.  Logan Airport reported over 23 inches of snow.

Here on the coast of NH it is hard to tell our total snowfall because the winds were so strong – some areas of the yard are down to the grass, and other areas have probably 3+ feet of snow.  Wherever shoveling is required, that is where the 3 feet are.  My best guess is we got around 16 inches of snow.

Honestly, being here for the blizzard is 100% of our own doing.  We could have stayed in Marietta and been comfortable; read our books, worked on my golf swing, sat comfortably by the fire pit.  But no.  There is something seriously mis-wired in our internal systems.  We both love a little adventure and a good story.

We had planned on spending February in New Hampshire for the month of February; me to ski, and Karen to make hearty soups.  We easily could have waited until next week to come up here, but no.  We decided to get a jump on the storm, get up to NH before the storm and ride it out here.  Judgment can be very subjective.

FRIDAY

Prior to the storm’s arrival, I took about a 2-mile walk just to see current conditions.  The ocean was like a mill pond, and was at or close to low tide.  Not a creature was stirring, so to speak.

SATURDAY (9 am)

Saturday, I took the same 2-mile walk.  It was snowing ferociously, although the snow was literally blowing sideways with what are reported 30 mph winds with gusts to 50 mph.  Our roof, and our neighbor’s roof have no snow – it is instantly blown off.

Throughout the day, the blizzard, with its’ intense winds, sounded like a freight train running by.

SUNDAY (9 am)

With hide tide at about 9 am, I decided what better place can I go but to the beach – yup, the same 2-mile walk.  We are experiencing beautiful clear blue skies, high winds, and a crisp temperature (maybe 15-20 degrees but with a wind chill factor of -4 according to the weather).

The plows have come and gone, and people are starting to uncover from the storm.  The sea?  It just keeps doing its thing.  And New Hampshire is beautiful with a fresh snowfall.

All for now – skiing and soups in our future!